Athlete Feature: Eugenia Truong

After giving a girl a concussion during a game last season, senior Eugenia Truong has been known as one of the most physical players on the girls Galileo Flag Football team. Beyond just her physical play though, Eugenia has continued to develop her skills and was named “Most Improved Player” on the team last year. As a returning captain for the Lionness’ this season, she’s focused on playing as hard as she can and trying to help the team capture a championship.

Eugenia has come a long way in her football career in just 3 seasons. Before she started playing on the team in 10th grade, she had no experience playing football and barely watched any games. Her friend and one of the co­captains on the team, senior Ara Cho, recommended her to play. She was surprised to make the team though, since she made it without knowing any football.

Although she was new to the sport, her coach, Mr. Donald Harper, saw a lot potential in Eugenia as a defensive asset to the team. Then the following year, Coach Harper decided to place her on offense to see how it would work out. It worked out well, as Eugenia now scores a touchdown almost every game.

During her first season, Eugenia was fearful of playing in front of a crowd, but learned over the years to just enjoy the game. She said, “The first time I played it was nerve racking and I was scared to mess up in front of a huge crowd because I didn’t want to be embarrassed. But now I’m just giving it everything I got and am having fun.”

Eugenia has been one of the captains on the team for the last two years. She was chosen as captain by Coach Donald Harper. Everyone on the team affectionately refers to Eugenia as “Momma G” because she takes care of the team like a mom would. Coach Harpers says, ”Eugenia is very supportive and gets work done on and off the field.”

Some of the things that Eugenia has worked on to become a better football player is she lacked focusing on instructions, being lazy, running faster and controlling her temper. She has worked on overcoming those things by asking her coaches what should she do, and just relaxing, which has really helped improve her game this season.

Eugenia has had many highlights over the last 3 season, but one particular plays stands out the most. She says, “My favorite memory when playing flag football is when we played against Lincoln High School and there was thirty seconds left on the clock and i scored a touchdown which led us to overtime and then scored another touchdown to win the game.”

Before she graduates, Eugenia hopes to win a championship after placing second place 2 years in a row. Individually she would like to earn Most Valuable Player,Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. She also hopes to pass on this message to her teammates. She says, “For my teammates, I want them to work hard and stay focused because what you do now will affect your performance of how you play in the future.”